Changes in the Tide
by KittyKatThePsycho
Summary: A fleeting moment of understanding, that's all it was.


A/N: I happen to like Jasper because of her complexity. This one-shot is just my opinion on how she and Lapis may have interacted during their time as Malachite. I hope I kept them in character. Also, this is my first Steven Universe fanfic and any reviews are appreciated.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"Lapis, you can't keep me trapped down here with you forever."

Her threat was met with the stillness of no response. She did not even know if the other gem had even heard her or was merely ignoring her more than usual. It had been that way for...days...weeks? Jasper was unable to even remotely tell time anymore. It did not help that, even through the eyes of Malachite, there was little to see but the murky depths of the ocean that surrounded them from every angle. The murkiness reminded the Quartz-type gem of the eyes of her current fusion partner... Glassy, empty and unreadable...

"You may as well speak to me..." Jasper growled, crawling closer to the blue gem who still did not respond. "It's not as if the Quartz child and his lackeys are going to come and save you anytime soon." Lapis flinched and the larger gem smirked. So, she was listening after all. However, after a minute or two of prolonged silence she felt her temper rise.

"You were the one that dragged us here into the bottom of the ocean on this pathetic planet, all to protect the Quartz brat and for what? Wasn't it them who imprisoned you in that mirror for centuries?" Jasper laughed bitterly. "The brat really must be something special if you were willing to be a prisoner all over again just after finally getting your freedom..."

"I am not a prisoner." Lapis' tone was icier than the waters that surrounded Malachite. It even made Jasper shiver, although she did not show it. The only other person that had ever solicited such a response from the war-veteran had been Yellow Diamond herself...and that had been thousands of years ago, when she had still been fairly young.

Jasper watched as Lapis suddenly rose and turned to face her, brows furrowed and glassy eyes focused on her. Jasper stood up, her large form towering over the frame of the smaller blue gem and she held herself steady. She knew that Lapis Lazuli was no weak little pushover. After all, the brat had managed to keep her trapped this long.

She managed to dodge the first giant fist of water that was swung at her, although it was made harder by the shackles that bound her wrists and neck. She managed to land on her feet before the next fist of water was swung at her. It hit her in the stomach, causing her to reel back slightly but she smirked. Fighting with Lapis was far more entertaining than being ignored. She dodged the next few punches and was about to land one of her own straight into the gem's pretty little face when something grabbed her leg. Jasper looked down to see that it was a hand of water.

"I am not a prisoner!" Lapis repeated, her eyes glimmering with fury. "You are the only prisoner here! And if I have to suffer... Then...so will you!"

Jasper let out a yell of pain as she was repeatedly hit in the face and the stomach while the water gem screamed words laced with hate and scorn at her. Eventually, Lapis' rage seemed to simmer down and the fists of water vanished. Lapis breathed heavily and glared at Jasper, until her face crumpled up into despair and she started to cry. It was one of the many things that the Quartz hated about fusion... Their emotions were interlinked. Whatever one of them felt, the other would feel it too. Lapis' misery, her anger and her loneliness... Jasper felt all of it as if it were her very own emotions and it made her sick.

"Stop your endless crying." She managed to choke out, her body aching with pain. If anything, she had a level of respect for the little blue brat. There were not many gems out there that had been able to beat her up the way she had moments ago.

"You're miserable too." Lapis sneered at her, causing the shackles to become tighter out of spite.

"Yes, I am." Jasper scoffed, angrily. "However, you don't see me crying about it, do you?"

"That's because you're a heartless, indoctrinated soldier whose only purpose is to be muscle! The only thing you can comprehend is fighting...you have never lost anything important in your existence!" Lapis screamed and she recoiled as she felt Jasper's anger seething around her. She had said many things, she had physically hurt the other gem but she had never felt her so angry before. It both frightened and angered her.

"You know nothing about me, brat!" Jasper grabbed the smaller gem by the shoulders and shoved her to the ground. "You may not believe it, but you are not the only one who has suffered over the course of their existence! You..." Despair flashed within yellow eyes, but was swiftly replaced with rage. "You still have the one for which you were made..."

Lapis knew that she was referring to the Diamonds- their rulers, the ones for which gems were made to serve from the moment they came into existence. The Diamonds were the monarchs, the "mother figures", perhaps even the deities of gem society. However, Jasper served Yellow Diamond, so how could she... It was then that Lapis realised that she had never heard Jasper refer to the cruel Diamond as her diamond...

"Your Diamond...was Pink Diamond, wasn't she?" Lapis asked. Jasper backed away at the mention of the name and she could feel the pain radiating from the Quartz.

"The Beta Kindergarten... I was made for her. I was the strongest, one of the only perfect Quartz from that shameful place." Jasper stared at her hands and curled them into fists. "You could even say I was unique. I climbed the ranks and then... Rose Quartz shattered her." Jasper's yellow eyes seemed to become slightly glossy, although Lapis was not sure if it was merely her imagination. "And in that moment...all my strength was rendered into nothing. They erased her from existence, I was given to Yellow Diamond and I was not even allowed to grieve."

Lapis felt highly uncomfortable as she listened to the other gem. She could not imagine what it may have been like to lose someone you practically worshipped and then be traded off to someone else, like a mere tool... To never be allowed to grieve for that person. It did not condone anything that Jasper had done- she had hurt Steven and forced Lapis into fusing with her, but it did make her hatred for Steven's mother as well as Earth more understandable.

"I liked it better when you were punching me." Jasper glared at the other gem. "I can feel your pity and it's disgusting. I do not need to be pitied."

"No, you don't deserve even that." Lapis whispered, although for once her voice contained no malice. It almost made Jasper smile- it was probably the first sincere thing she had heard from her fusion partner. Not that she truly cared, but all the anger and despair directed at her had become tiring as of late. She could feel it slowly eating away at her mind, driving her mad. She wondered if Lapis felt the same.

"Good." Jasper walked to the other side of the space that they shared and let her broad back face the smaller gem. "This changes nothing between us."

Lapis turned aorund, so her back faced Jasper's and she closed her eyes as she whispered. "Absolutely nothing."


End file.
